[fishbone]

They don't have dyno runs to show because they don't exist. They did their testing on other cars and they extrapolated from those gains to claim "roughly" the same for the Altima. And I bet you if you read their statements closely, they will most likely include words such as "up to", "capable of", etc.
Yeah, up to 25hp. So anything from 1HP to 25HP means their statement is true. If you spent $450 and gained 1 horsepower, in theory their device worked. That's a heck of a lot of money for 1 horsepower ...

 

[alpinespeedshop]

Hi everyone I am a longtime forum reader but 1st time poster. I am also a dealer for Bully Dog and have seen what their programmers can do for diesel trucks so when I saw that they had one available for the Altima I jumped on it. I am not here to sell or represent Bully Dog in anyway I just want to post the results I have seen as a consumer of the product.

I have an 07 2.5 Altima with about 40K miles on it. I drive about 2-3K miles a month so I figured any increase in fuel economy would be worth it. I have kept track of my mileage ever since I purchased the car (it had about 20K miles on it when I got it) and have consistently averaged about 27-28 MPG. I also put a K&N Intake on at the same time so my improvements that I have seen are not solely based on the Bully Dog Programmer. So thats the background here is my experience.

The programmer is easy to use and plugs in under the dash. For my Altima it took about 20-30 mins to read the engine before you get the programming options. When I 1st got it it would stop at that point and say an update was required. (after reading through the forum it looks like this has been a common problem) I called Bully Dog (as a consumer) and told them my problem. He had me get a few codes from the programmer and said he talked to an engineer and that 2 days later I should be able to update my programmer with my computer and the update software and should be good to go. Two days later I tried and no updates were available. So this time I got on the web chat they have on there website and the person helping me was able to send me a file with the update required that had the part #s for my engine included in it. - This whole process was a pain and it would have been nice if it would have worked right out of the box but I also understand that its a new product for Bully Dog and is about impossible for them to have all the different codes / versions that our vehicles show up as loaded in the database to begin with and that it will get better as time goes on.

So once I got it working I programmed with the Premium Tune. I have gone through 2 tanks of gas since then. The 1st tank I got 560 miles out of it (all time high for me) and averaged 31 MPG. 2nd tank I got 530 miles and averaged 31 MPG again. I had a business trip I went on this week that I drove 400 miles in one day. I had 3 adults in the car and all 400 miles were through canyon roads averaging between 65-75 MPG with major elevation changes. At the end of the day I was amazed and was averaging 33.8 MPG. I'm still on the tail end of that tank but should get 600+ miles out of it for sure. I haven't dynoed so I can't speak for any HP gains. It does seem that the engine runs smoother and obviously is performing better. I am getting atleast 10% better fuel economy so for me it was a great purchase. Well thats my story hope it can help others out there.

 

[rich2342]

The testimonial was good, but the members here want tangible results such as a dyno which would produce evidence it works and stands up to their claims..

Hopefully someone will stepup to the plate here either from the company producing a test car/dyno result or someone who purchases the programmer.

 

[m_turner_02]

about the gains with the diesel trucks....I would believe it. Big engine + turbo + stock/conservative tune = the possibillity to have major improvements with very minor adjustments to fuel and boost. JET has been doing it for years. Also, how much of your 2-3k per month are highway miles? As that can have a huge impact on the altima's gas mileage, as well as how a person uses the throttle. It is nice to hear your testimonial, and I am certainly not going to call bs on it, but it will take a lot more than one person to sway me in to believing the claims. Like I have stated a few times on here, one of my biggest gripes about this thing, is the lack of informatin about it. I want to know HOW it produces its gains, and WHAT it changes to get the gains. They(Bullydog) can explain how the thing works without giving away any secrets, Technosquare did it. However, when you look on their website you can't find anything about how the product works, they only tell you the results. I even went as far as to call them up and speak to someone about it, and even he couldn't answer my questions in a convincing manner. Surely you wouldn't buy a product from me if I said that I have something you plug into your car and it will instantly give you 25hp. You would ask questions about it, and if I could answer them in a way that suits you, makes you feel confident about my product, and provide REPEATABLE data to back up my claims, then you would buy it. Until then I will remain very skeptical about this product. This is starting to seem more and more like the Pulstar spark plugs. Until I get convinced otherwise, IMO, Technosquare is hands down the better product of the two. I do however, hope I get proved wrong. I would love to see a rep from bullydog post on here and provide some info. Aren't they a vendor on here??

 

[Ormand]

Like I have stated a few times on here, one of my biggest gripes about this thing, is the lack of informatin about it. I want to know HOW it produces its gains, and WHAT it changes to get the gains. They(Bullydog) can explain how the thing works without giving away any secrets, Technosquare did it. However, when you look on their website you can't find anything about how the product works, they only tell you the results. I even went as far as to call them up and speak to someone about it, and even he couldn't answer my questions in a convincing manner. Surely you wouldn't buy a product from me if I said that I have something you plug into your car and it will instantly give you 25hp. You would ask questions about it, and if I could answer them in a way that suits you, makes you feel confident about my product, and provide REPEATABLE data to back up my claims, then you would buy it.

I keep checking, and everytime I check, Technosquare is NOT AVAILABLE. No product for the 4th gen Altima. Per the Technosquare web site, the last app for Nissan is for 2006 models. Don't see how that makes them better than Bully Dog. As to how the make the gains- they change timing and fueling. How else would you expect it to happen? Think anybody has a chip that increases displacement, or makes the valves get bigger? For what it's worth, I would like to see dyno data, too. But without that, it is reasonable to expect AT LEAST 10 or 15hp. Maybe not as good as UpRev, but right now, BullyDog is available, and the UpRev software is not, Technosquare is not.

 

[Ormand]

They don't have dyno runs to show because they don't exist. They did their testing on other cars and they extrapolated from those gains to claim "roughly" the same for the Altima. And I bet you if you read their statements closely, they will most likely include words such as "up to", "capable of", etc.
Yeah, up to 25hp. So anything from 1HP to 25HP means their statement is true. If you spent $450 and gained 1 horsepower, in theory their device worked. That's a heck of a lot of money for 1 horsepower ...

Lot's of "ifs" there. "If" you get 25hp, that's only about $17 per hp- much better deal. Yeah, it would be nice to see an dyno run or two or three, but that doesn't stop people from spending big bucks for other bolt-ons for their Altimas, based on results from "similar" cars.

 

[alpinespeedshop]

My 2-3K miles are about 75% freeway 25% city. With the last few tanks of gas that I got about 31 MPG on my driving style and patterns are constant with how and where I used to drive only seeing about 28 MPG. I know my data isn't dyno proven and that others results may vary I just wanted to let everyone know how it's working for me.

 

[Cujo1809]

I just ordered the triple dog gt tuner I won't have any dyno runs until after I get the racingline Y-pipe and my borla mufflers installed cause I don't want to pay twice but if no one has results before then I will post them up.

 

[Dexion]

^Would you do a before and after chip run?

 

[Cujo1809]

^Would you do a before and after chip run?

I will do a run with all my mods except the bullydog and then one or two with it.

 

[jkgultimate]

I keep checking, and everytime I check, Technosquare is NOT AVAILABLE. No product for the 4th gen Altima. Per the Technosquare web site, the last app for Nissan is for 2006 models. Don't see how that makes them better than Bully Dog. As to how the make the gains- they change timing and fueling. How else would you expect it to happen? Think anybody has a chip that increases displacement, or makes the valves get bigger? For what it's worth, I would like to see dyno data, too. But without that, it is reasonable to expect AT LEAST 10 or 15hp. Maybe not as good as UpRev, but right now, BullyDog is available, and the UpRev software is not, Technosquare is not.

Technosquare does have a tune for our cars, but didn't post on their website yet. Call them and you will see.

 

[m_turner_02]

I keep checking, and everytime I check, Technosquare is NOT AVAILABLE. No product for the 4th gen Altima. Per the Technosquare web site, the last app for Nissan is for 2006 models. Don't see how that makes them better than Bully Dog. As to how the make the gains- they change timing and fueling. How else would you expect it to happen? Think anybody has a chip that increases displacement, or makes the valves get bigger? For what it's worth, I would like to see dyno data, too. But without that, it is reasonable to expect AT LEAST 10 or 15hp. Maybe not as good as UpRev, but right now, BullyDog is available, and the UpRev software is not, Technosquare is not.

lol, I forgot that this was the 4th gen section. but they could say that the preset tune is set to 13.1 AFR and bump the timing 4 degrees. All I am asking for is SOME explanation....

 

[KaBar6]

So, anyone get any dyno runs yet?

 

[Ormand]

lol, I forgot that this was the 4th gen section. but they could say that the preset tune is set to 13.1 AFR and bump the timing 4 degrees. All I am asking for is SOME explanation....

Both the AFR and the timing come out of tables. They are sets of values, which vary with rpm and with load. With some programmers, they can be seen as a curve, or a set of curves, but usually nothing as simple as "we changed the A/F to 13.1". Most folks familiar with ECU tuning already know this. Guess m_turner is an exception.

 

[eds07]

I went ahead and bought the Bullydog Power Pup. I received it about 2 weeks ago, so had plenty of time to see if I felt a difference with it on my vehicle. I have an 07 3.5 SE CVT with AEM CAI and Stillen catback exhaust. When I received the power pup I hooked it up to the computer and updated it right away. I plugged it in the car and it went through its process, then it told me it needed an update again. I called Bullydog and they had a new update available, so I installed and plugged the unit back in the car. It took about 25-30 minutes to install, I set it at premium tune and left the rev limiter and speed limiter stock. After driving the car for 2 weeks I don't really feel any increase in power and it hasn't improved my fuel economy. I did notice it made the idle a little higher on premium tune, but like I said no power difference to me. Another problem with the unit I'm having is I can't adjust timing or idle and Bullydog claims these are both adjustable. When I called them about the issue they informed me to call back in a week, they would have their engineer get a car like mine and mess with it to see what's going on. They informed me there would be no guarantee they could fix the problem, but they didn't want me to take that statement the wrong way, WTF! So I got a product that doesn't do all the things that they claim it does and they won't promise it will be fixed. I already setup an RMA to send this unit back, I'm within my 30 day return window so all i have to pay is return shipping. I really can't recommend this unit, maybe it works wonders on the Nissan Titan but not on the Altima.

 

[matt7400]

I went ahead and bought the Bullydog Power Pup. I received it about 2 weeks ago, so had plenty of time to see if I felt a difference with it on my vehicle. I have an 07 3.5 SE CVT with AEM CAI and Stillen catback exhaust. When I received the power pup I hooked it up to the computer and updated it right away. I plugged it in the car and it went through its process, then it told me it needed an update again. I called Bullydog and they had a new update available, so I installed and plugged the unit back in the car. It took about 25-30 minutes to install, I set it at premium tune and left the rev limiter and speed limiter stock. After driving the car for 2 weeks I don't really feel any increase in power and it hasn't improved my fuel economy. I did notice it made the idle a little higher on premium tune, but like I said no power difference to me. Another problem with the unit I'm having is I can't adjust timing or idle and Bullydog claims these are both adjustable. When I called them about the issue they informed me to call back in a week, they would have their engineer get a car like mine and mess with it to see what's going on. They informed me there would be no guarantee they could fix the problem, but they didn't want me to take that statement the wrong way, WTF! So I got a product that doesn't do all the things that they claim it does and they won't promise it will be fixed. I already setup an RMA to send this unit back, I'm within my 30 day return window so all i have to pay is return shipping. I really can't recommend this unit, maybe it works wonders on the Nissan Titan but not on the Altima.

Thanks. Honesty is rare.

 

[crayzitalian3]

but did you ever try removing the Wide Open Throttle limiter, or try the car out with the limiters removed?

 

[Dexion]

Hmm, not lookin good for bullydog so far.

 

[eds07]

but did you ever try removing the Wide Open Throttle limiter, or try the car out with the limiters removed?

The programmer doesn't have a remove Wide Open Throttle limiter option for our Altimas. It will let you adjust top speed and rev limiter, but the main reason I got the programmer was for the Premium tune that was supposed to add 25HP and for the timing change option(which doesn't work for the 3.5SE). I changed the tune back to stock and my car feels the same as when I had the premium tune set. I'm just trying to give my 2cents so people don't waste their money like i did. Maybe with future updates this programmer can be good, but as of now it did nothing for my car.

 

[m_turner_02]

Both the AFR and the timing come out of tables. They are sets of values, which vary with rpm and with load. With some programmers, they can be seen as a curve, or a set of curves, but usually nothing as simple as "we changed the A/F to 13.1". Most folks familiar with ECU tuning already know this. Guess m_turner is an exception.

no, I understand the concept behind ECU tuning. instead of trying too hard to be a smartass, try and see what I was talking about. a new company says they have a product that you plug into your car and it will give you 25hp. ok great. how? that is a question that they never answered, even after I called them and talked to one of their "techs" I got no satisfying answers. I posted the replies that I got from them in one of these threads....I was looking for bullydog to provide an explanation of how THEIR product works, not get a lesson on ECU tuning. I guess it is now apparent why they couldn't give an answer, and that is that their product is garbage and they are only relying on their name to scam a few buck. No dyno numbers and no explanations to back up their claims....and then you want to chime in with your asinine post attempting to inform me about what ECU tuning involves. see the bigger picture asshole, I was asking these questions for a reason. that reason being that I was/am skeptical about the claimed performance gains of their product......